Library from Ireland

The board's final ruling says that the number and layout of wind turbines and locations of associated access roads for the project do not take account of the area's archaeological landscape of post-medieval settlements and several prehistoric features.

Owners of a French-made wind turbine have been advised to lower their machines and keep people away from them. The warning from the Northern Ireland Health and Safety Executive came after blade parts started falling off the Scirocco 6kW model, mainly used in domestic properties.

A new energy strategy for Kerry will see whole swathes of the county earmarked for windfarms - but not in top scenic areas. The initiative coincides with a decision by An Bord Pleanála last week to approve the county's highest turbines near Castleisland. Over 70,000 hectares of land had been identified as suitable for wind, water, and other energy sources.

Trump is furious about the proposed wind turbines Scotland is planning on installing off the coast of Trump's new golf resort, eight miles north of Aberdeen. Trump claims that with the installation of the turbines, Scotland will quickly lose out on the tourism trade to nearby Ireland.

The Oireachtas is to consider in detail shortly a Bill, tabled by Labour Senator John Kelly, that would impose restrictions on the location of wind turbines near people's homes. Under the Bill, ...larger turbines of 50m-150m would have to be a minimum of 1km to 2km away.

A change to the curtailment rules introduced towards the end of last year means that instead of all wind generators being asked to reduce their electricity production, newer wind farms will have to bear the burden of curtailment, which in turn will affect their ability to generate revenues.

The 730-hectare site stretching to the Cork and west Limerick borders was zoned "open for consideration" rather than suitable in the Kerry County Council development plan, flagging the fact that it had certain sensitivities. Within it were "dual conservation areas" for birds and animals and nearby was an area of special conservation.

A €100 million, 400ft-high wind farm planned for west Clare is to bypass the planning process. It follows a Bord Pleanála ruling that the plan by Clare Coastal Wind Power for a 46-turbine wind farm on two sites near the coast is considered strategic infrastructure and, as a result, will be considered by the appeals board.

Ireland has witnessed an alarming slowdown in the pace of renewable energy development in the last two years and is falling way behind European competitors, according to the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) today.

Feelings are running high in west Clare over the proposed construction of a €10 million wind farm, amid claims posters opposing the development have been taken down. A new local anti-wind farm action group has taken out an advertisement in a local newspaper appealing to people to desist from removing their posters.

It said the Connemara landscape is one of the principal assets of the tourism industry in Co Galway and the proposed development is located on a prominent site in east Connemara in a an area which is part of the Connemara Bog Complex Special Area of Conservation. The site is also within an area with a high-value coastal tourism infrastructure and fisheries resource.

MDEG are concerned that development of industrial wind energy in Ireland does not become a free for all with irreversible consequences for vulnerable or rare floral and fauna species as in the very recent case of the loss to wind turbine of a white tailed eagle.

"I have been contacted by sleepless residents at houses at Hole-in-the-Wall Road, and nearby Grattan Lodge apartments, who are appealing for an end to the nightly noise generated by the turbines," said Deputy Kenny.

A white-tailed sea eagle introduced to the Killarney National Park from Norway three years ago has been killed after colliding with a wind turbine near Kilgarvan, an area designated as suitable for wind farms in the Kerry county development plan.

A forthcoming report by the Irish Academy of Engineers (IAE) expresses alarm at the lack of any comprehensive analysis of the costs of the country's current energy policy, while multinationals and other businesses remain deeply concerned about the potential costs of the Government's commitment to generating 40 per cent of our electricity from wind power.

‘‘This decision ensures that electricity prices will continue to rise over the coming years," said Varadkar. He warned that if the economy continued to decline, increases could continue to climb, as the ESB would seek to secure ‘‘more and more money from fewer customers''.

In its ruling, the appeals board dismissed an appeal by An Taisce against a Clare County Council decision to give the go-ahead to plans by Hibernian Windpower Ltd to construct an 11-unit 375ft high wind farm at Boolynagleragh, Lissycasey.

While the company may be riding the wave of investment that's backing green energy projects, not everyone wants to see these huge wind farms on their local hillside. The residents have rejected suggestions that they're guilty of a "not in my backyard" attitude. "It doesn't matter what tag you give it - you're putting too many turbines in one area."

The protected hen harrier has put paid to plans for a two-turbine extension to the existing 13-turbine wind farm at Booltiagh townland near Connolly in mid-Clare. This follows An Bord Pleanála refusing planning permission to Booltiagh Wind Ltd to construct the turbines at Booltiagh.

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